• All business units generate positive results
• SALCOS® - Salzgitter Low CO2 Steelmaking: Supervisory Board decides on key investment
• Steel pipes from Salzgitter for Germany’s future energy supply
• Outlook for the financial year 2022 confirmed

In the first six months of 2022, the Salzgitter Group delivered the highest operating result for a first half-year in the company’s history. Rolled steel product prices meanwhile running at a record level sent profit up by leaps and bounds for the Steel Production, Steel Processing and Trading business units that were the key drivers behind the exceptional earnings trend in the period under review. The Technology business unit, along with the industrial participations, however, also contributed positive results.

The Salzgitter Group’s external sales saw price-induced growth of 50 % to € 6,636.5 million (H1 2021: € 4,435.5) million. Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) increased to € 1,138.5 million, while the pre-tax result even more than trebled to € 970.5 million (H1 2021: € 305.7 million). This figure includes a contribution of € 84.3 million from the participating investment in Aurubis AG accounted for using the equity method (H1 2021: € 91.0 million). After-tax profit of € 781.0 million (H1 2021: € 230.6 million) brings earnings per share to € 14.39 (H1 2021: € 4.20). Return on capital employed (ROCE) came in at 30.7 % (H1 2021: 16.4 %). The equity ratio was raised to 42.2 % (H1 2021: 33.3 %), thereby underscoring the Salzgitter Group’s sound balance sheet.

As Gunnar Groebler, Salzgitter AG’s Chief Executive Officer, comments: “The course of the year to date has proved to be exceptional for several reasons. On the one hand, we are reporting by far the best operating result for a half-year in the history of Salzgitter AG while, on the other, Salzgitter AG’s Supervisory Board has approved funds of more than € 700 million for the first development stage of the SALCOS® program, thereby marking the largest investment since the company’s listing in 1998. Thanks to this ground-breaking decision, we will be able to place the first contracts with plant engineers as early as the third quarter of this year. This serves once more to underscore our pioneering role and our ambitions in the field of low carbon steel production. We want to be delivering the first volumes produced via the SALCOS® route to our customers even toward the end of 2025. Full transition of the integrated steelworks in Salzgitter to low carbon crude steel production is to have been completed by 2033. This transition would put us in a position to save up to 95 % of the carbon emissions of around 8 million tons produced every year, which approximates to 1 % of Germany’s carbon emissions.”

As Burkhard Becker, Salzgitter AG’s Chief Financial Officer, states: “No matter how pleased we are by the outstanding result, we are in no doubt about the risks resulting from Russia’s attack on Ukraine. Along with disruptions to global supply and logistics chains, compounded by extreme volatility on the commodities and energy markets, the war is also reflected by a further escalation of the gas crisis in particular. For this reason, we will be adhering to our sales and earnings guidance for the financial year 2022, irrespective of the fact that our half-year result has already reached the lower end of our forecast.” Burkhard Becker, who also heads up the Steel Processing Business Unit, also referenced the significance of Salzgitter AG for the diversification of Germany’s gas supply. “At the present point in time, we are producing more than 80 km of line pipe to connect the Wilhelmshaven and Brunsbüttel LNG terminals to Germany’s gas grid. Salzgitter is therefore making an important contribution to developing a high-performance infrastructure, and thereby enabling society and the economy to function smoothly.”

External sales by business unit (EUR million):

Earnings before taxes (EBT) by business unit (EUR million):

Outlook

As a result of steel prices consolidating as from the second quarter, we expect the above-average margins to narrow as the year progresses. While also factoring in the geopolitical situation, we therefore continue to anticipate the following for the Salzgitter Group in the financial year 2022:

• sales in the region of € 13 billion,
• EBITDA of between € 1.4 billion and € 1.6 billion,
• EBT of between € 1.0 billion and € 1.2 billion, and
• a return on capital employed (ROCE) above the previous year's figure.

This guidance is based on the assumption of the ongoing, unlimited availability of natural gas as a prerequisite for maintaining production. Sustained supply and capacity bottlenecks on the procurement markets, compounded by geopolitical tensions, give rise to uncertainty for the anticipated development. We make explicit reference to the currently virtually unquantifiable forecast risks in connection with the Ukraine war.

The complete report released on the results of the first half of 2022 can be viewed at: https://www.salzgitter-ag.com/de/investor-relations/news-publikationen.html